Pirates optimistic of deal
2008-10-07 18:12
Nairobi - Pirates holding a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and military hardware with a 21-member crew off the coast of Somalia said on Tuesday that a deal could be reached in a day for the vessel's release.
"A deal might be sealed by Wednesday and then we will issue a statement regarding the end of the matter," said Sugule Ali, a spokesperson for the estimated 50 pirates holding the MV Faina since September 25.
The pirate would not comment on the ransom amount being negotiated.
"I am not talking about the fine the owners of the ship will pay, but both sides are definitely ready to talk amicably," he said.
The pirates, who refer to ransom demands as "fines" imposed on Western powers for their "illegal" use of Somali waters, had previously said they wanted $20m.
The Ukrainian vessel is currently moored off the Somali coastal village of Hobyo, some 500km north of the capital Mogadishu.
It is surrounded by a number of foreign warships, including US navy vessels tasked with monitoring the situation and ensuring that the military equipment is not offloaded to shore.
Russia, which has several of its nationals among the crew, is believed to have dispatched a warship to the area, but its exact status is not known.
The surge in incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia threatens to cripple the shipping industry as it affects some of the world's most important trade routes through the Suez Canal.
Some vessels could in future choose to bypass the Canal entirely and take the longer route between Europe and Asia by going around the Cape of Good Hope.
For its part, the Islamist militia which controls a large part of Somalia, the Shebab movement, urged the pirates to destroy the ship and its cargo if they did not obtain the ransom they demanded.
Powerless to fight piracy
Speaking at a news conference in Nairobi on Tuesday, Somali Foreign Minister Ali Jama Jangeli called for increased international action against the pirates.
"We are powerless to fight piracy and we urge the outside world to battle against them," he said.
The minister stressed that pirates were not only wreaking havoc in Somalia, but having an impact on trade in the region and the rest of the world by hiking insurance premiums paid by companies sending ships through the Suez Canal.
A recent report by the London-based think tank Chatham House warned that world trade faces major disruption if piracy was allowed to expand unchecked and be co-opted by radical Islamist groups.
"If the cost of extra insurance becomes prohibitive, or the danger simply too great, shipping companies may avoid the Gulf of Aden and take the long route to Europe and North America around the Cape of Good Hope," it said.
"The extra weeks of travel and fuel consumption would add considerably to the cost of transporting goods" at a time when the price of oil is already putting the squeeze on world trade, Chatham House said.
The Gulf of Aden commands access to the southern entrance of the Suez Canal and is one of the world's most important trade routes. Some 16 000 ships and around 30% of the world's oil transits through it each year.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, at least 62 attacks have been carried out on foreign ships in the waters off the coast of Somalia since the start of this year, almost half of them successful.
- SAPA